И. Г. Петровского Кафедра английского языка учебно-методическое пособие

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3. Felicity conditions

Speech acts are successful only if they satisfy several criteria, known as 'felicity conditions'. For example, the 'preparatory' conditions have to be right: the person performing the speech act has to have the authority to do so. This is hardly an issue with such verbs as apologize, promise, or thank, but it is important constraint on the use of such verbs as fine, baptize, arrest, and declare war, where only certain people are qualified to use these utterances. Then, the speech act has to be executed in the correct manner: in certain cases there is a procedure to be followed exactly and completely (e.g. baptizing)', in others, certain expectations have to be met (e.g. one can only welcome with a pleasant demeanor). And, as a third example, 'sincerity' conditions have to be present: the speech act must be performed in a sincere manner. Verbs such as apologize, guarantee, and vow are effective only if speakers mean what they say; believe and affirm are valid only if the speakers are not lying.

Ordinary people automatically accept these conditions when communicate, and they depart from them only for very special reasons example, the request ^ Will you shut the door? is appropriate only if

1. the door is open
   
2. the speaker has a reason for asking,
   

(с) the hearer is in a position to perform the action.

If any of these conditions does not obtain, then a special interpretation of the speech act has to apply. It may be intended as a joke, or as a piece of sarcasm. Alternatively, of course, there may be doubt about the speaker's visual acuity or even sanity!
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4. Indirect speech acts

Some speech acts directly address a listener, but the majority of acts in everyday conversation are indirect. For example, there are a very large number of ways of asking someone to perform an action. The most direct way is to use the imperative construction {Shut the door), but it is easy to sense that this would be inappropriate in many everyday situations - too abrupt or rude, perhaps. Alternatives stress such factors as the hearer's ability or desire to perform the action, or the speaker's reasons for having the action done.

These include the following:

^ I'd be grateful if you'd shut the door.

Could you shut the door? Would you mind shutting the door?

It'd help to have the door shut.

It's getting cold in here. Shall we keep out the draught?

Now, Jane, what have you forgotten to do?

Brrrl

Any of these could, in the right situation, function as a request for action, despite the fact that none has the clear form of an imperative. But of course, it is always open to the hearer to misunderstand an indirect request - either accidentally or deliberately.

Teacher: Johnny, there's some chalk on the floor.

Johnny: Yes, there is, sir.

Teacher: Well, pick it up, then!


5. Pragmatics and the Dictionary

For many years the overriding concern of English language teachers was that their stu­dents should learn to speak and to write English correctly. More recently, serious attention has been drawn not only to the correct, but to the appropriate use of language. This shift of em­phasis has taken place under the influence of studies in pragmatics.

Traditionally, dictionaries and grammars are concerned with what words, phrases, and sen­tences mean. Pragmatics, on the other hand, is the study of how words are used, and what speakers mean. There can he a considerable difference between sentence-meaning and speaker-meaning. For example, a person who says "Is that your car?" may mean something like this: "Your car is blocking my gateway -move it!" - or this: "What a fantastic car - I didn't know you were so rich!"-or this: "What a dreadful car-I wouldn't be seen dead in it!" The very same words can be used to complain, to express admiration, or to express disapproval.

This Dictionary will often help you by giving examples of typical speaker-meanings. Look, for example, at the following Usage Note at the entry for way.

• ^ USAGE By the way.

Although this expression seems to suggest that you are going to add unimportant information, in fact it is often used to introduce a subject that is really very important to you; By the way, / wonder if we could discuss my sal­ary some time?\ By the way, do you think you could lend me £10? —see also incidentally (USAGE)

In general, the context-in which the words are spoken, or the way in which they are said (For example, their intonation) will tell us which of, the possible speaker-meanings is intended. But between speakers of different languages or people of different cultures, serious misunderstandings can occur. For example, it is common for a British teacher to say to a student: "James, would you like to read this passage?" Although the sentence is a question about what James likes, the teacher is not asking about James's wishes, but is telling him to read. A foreign student could easily misunderstand the teach­er's intention, and reply; "No, thank you". This would strike the teacher either as being very rude, or as a bad joke. In other words, the reply would be inappropriate.

Misunderstandings are particularly likely to occur with words such as please, whose mean­ing cannot be explained by the normal method

1. 
   . How formal is the situation (is it a business meeting, a class discussion, or a picnic)?
   
2. . How well do we know the people we are addressing (are they friends, workmates, or complete strangers)?
   
3. . If we are talking to strangers, how similar are they to ourselves (e.g. are they people of a similar age, of the same sex, of a similar social background, of the same profession)?
   
4. . Are we talking to people who are in a superi­or, equal, or subordinate relationship (e.g.our boss, a colleague, or a waiter)?
   
5. . How great is the demand we are making on them {e.g. are we asking to borrow a pencil or a car)?
   

Do we have the right to make a particular demand (e.g. teachers can require a student to write an essay, but not to clean their car)?

People of different cultures will answer these questions differently. Thus it is less of an "imposition" to ask for a cigarette in Eastern Europe (where they are very cheap) than in some parts of Western Europe (where they are expensive). And the point should be made that different English-speaking cultures vary among themselves, just as they differ from non-English-speaking cultures. For example, it can be less of an "imposition" to borrow someone's car in the United States "than it is in Great Britain.

People from different cultures will attach differ­ent values to the same factors. For example, a teacher has a higher status in some countries than in others. In some cultures, people are very deferential to their parents: the idea of parents being polite to their young children, as often happens in American or British middle-class homes (e.g. a mother's saying "Peter, would you mind shutting the door, please?") will seem very strange. Finally, the importance attached to factors such as differences of sex, age, and social status varies enormously from culture to culture.

Of dictionary definition; or with words such as surely, for which a definition giving the meaning of the word out of its context can easily be misleading.

For example, please is a conventional marker of politeness added to requests. But it cannot be simply equated with items such as bitte in German or dǒzo in Japanese. Unlike these words, please cannot be used in reply to thanks (e.g. by a hostess giving a visitor a drink). And moreover, please is a minimal marker of polite­ness, which in some situations can actually be less polite than its absence! For example, "Will you please sit down?" is more likely to be used in addressing a naughty child than in address­ing an important visitor to one's office. "Mind your head, please" is inappropriate because "Mind your head" is a warning, not a request: it is the kind of remark which is meant to benefit the hearer, rather than the speaker. These examples show how difficult it is to explain the meanings of some words without giving details of [he context in which it would be appropriate or inappropriate to use them.

Many linguists and language teachers would argue that the most serious cross-cultural mis­understandings occur at the level of speaker-meaning (i.e. pragmatics). If foreign learners make grammatical errors, people may think they do not speak English very well, and make allowances for them. But if learners make pragmatic errors, they risk (as in the case of "Will you please sit down?") appearing impo­lite, unfriendly, or even aggressive. Converse­ly, some learners (e.g. some speakers of oriental languages) may make the mistake of appearing over-polite, which in turn can cause embarrass­ment, or can even give an impression of sar­casm. The study of pragmatics may thus be seen as central to the foreign student's need to communicate, and it is perhaps surprising that up to now no serious attempt has been made to incorporate pragmatic information into a dic­tionary for foreign learners of English.

Part of (he explanation lies in the fact that pragmatics is a comparatively new field of study. But more relevant is the fact that we cannot formulate rules of pragmatic usage in the way that rules are formulated in grammar. The best we can offer is a set of guidelines, because so many factors influence the way we speak and how polite or indirect we are. The sorts of questions we must ask ourselves are: In spite of the difficulties of generalizing, we attempt in this dictionary to capture "guide­lines" of pragmatic usage by three means:

1 . By ^ Usage Notes forming part of the alphabetic entries for words (see, for example, the Usage Notes under actually, afraid, all right, (I) mean, please, surely).

• USAGE ...In conversation actually can be used to soften what you are saying, especially if you are correcting someone, disagreeing, or complaining: "Happy Birthday, Tom." "Well. Actually my birthday was yesterday. " But it can be used with the opposite effect, if you speak With sarcasm: I didn't ask your opinion, actually.

2. 
   . By Language Notes covering more general pragmatic topics, which cannot be limited to the treatment of individual words, and which affect the meaning, in context, of many different words or phrases. (See, for example, the Language Notes for Apologies (p 38), Criticism and Praise (p244). Invitations and Offers(p556), and Thanks (pl097).)
   
3. . By comments and examples within the entries for individual words, showing how they are used in context. This example at quite shows how it can be used to show annoyance:
   

(shows annoyance) ^ If you've quite finished interrupting, perhaps I can continue.

And this example at respect shows how it is used in a fixed phrase to express polite disagreement: (used formally to introduce an expression of disagree­ment) With (t he greatest) respect/Wit h due respect, I think you 're wrong.

What we can reasonably attempt to show in these Notes is the way in which pragmatic questions are resolved in some typical situa­tions, for a (hypothetical) "average" speaker of British or American English. The Notes are designed to help overcome problems of inappropriateness, whether these are caused by lin­guistic or by cultural differences.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the beginning of Pragmatics connected with?
   
2. What conditions produced Pragmatics?
   
3. What are the chief contributions of the active type dictionaries to Pragmatics?
   
4. In what way is Pragmatics reflected in active type dictionaries?
   
5. What information do the learner’s dictionaries give to English language learners?
   
6. Which of two opposing lexicographical principles (the descriptive or prescriptive) is accepted by the learner’s dictionaries?
   

^ 6. Didactic and pragmatic approaches to English Language Teaching Assumptions

Contrary to P.O. Strevens who distinguished sub-languages or varieties of English within the English language M. Berns, an American professor at Purdue University from Indiana develops the idea of the Concentric Circles of World Englishes. She speaks about three circles, namely:

1) Inner circle, including such countries as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and USA where English is considered a primary language.

2) Outer circle, including the former main colonies dominions and dependent territories such as Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Nigeria and some others (14 in number) where English is official , state or semi-official language, which has norm developing status and extended functional range.

3) Expanding circle includes many other countries of the world, which have no close ties with the so-called Inner circles like China, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Russia.

The full characteristics of the abovementioned circles and characteristics of World Englishes is seen from the following table.

The Concentric Circles of World Englishes (adapted from Kachru 1985)